


You Looked At Me Like No One Ever Had

by wherethefrickismyblackwidowmovie



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cuddling, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, discussion of homophobia and racism, everyone is a Star Wars fan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 23:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10372629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wherethefrickismyblackwidowmovie/pseuds/wherethefrickismyblackwidowmovie
Summary: Sam needs Bucky too.





	

After Bucky came out of cryo, he’s been quieter. His shoulders were tenser. Sam would never get why Steve had thought it was okay for him to go back under, because he got better the longer he was out. He laughed at more of Sam’s jokes, his shoulders were rolled back, his new prosthetic hung relaxed at his side. He even tried to joke around with Steve and Sam sometimes. That’s why Sam liked giving Bucky a hard time, because he thought maybe he just needed to feel what it was like to be normal again.

Steve wasn’t willing to do it, so someone had to. Besides, it was so easy.

When Sam came into the living room, Bucky started to move over so he could sit next to him on the couch, but Sam was faster. He jammed himself next to Bucky and squished him into the armrest.

“Look at you, taking up the whole couch!” He looked at Bucky in mock disbelief and squished him harder as Bucky squirmed.

“You move over!”

“ _You_ move over!” Sam argued, suppressing a smile.

“I hate you,” Bucky said with a laugh.

Sam finally broke into a smile and pulled away. “Look at this guy, not respecting anybody’s personal space,” he said as Steve entered.

Steve put his hands on his hips, smiling. “You know, you’re actually—”

Sam raised his eyebrows as he stretched his feet out, resting his back on Bucky’s shoulder. “So did you get my text?” He pulled out his phone.

“Hey, it’s been months and I still don’t have your number,” Bucky interrupted, still wedged behind Sam.

“I don’t have a phone,” Sam replied without missing a beat. Then, to Steve, “Did you get my text?”

Bucky let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed Sam’s phone. He fumbled with it while Sam tried to grab it back. Steve was holding his sides laughing.

Sam finally snatched the phone from Bucky’s hand, pausing with his face inches away from Bucky’s. “I still don’t have a phone.”

Bucky frowned. “That’s good. Because I definitely don’t have your phone number.”

Sam pursed his lips in a small smile. “Okay. Don’t text me sometime.”

\--

When Sam got a text later that day that said, “hey, you want to hang out?” he immediately texted back, “No.”

Bucky legitimately looked surprised to see him when he appeared in his doorway, even though Sam had been messing with him like that for forever now. Sam couldn’t help but smile.

“Let’s watch a movie, Summer Soldier,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

Bucky got up nervously, brushing his hair behind his ear. “Yeah, uh, okay.”

“C’mon.”

“You’ve seen Star Wars right?”

“Yeah, Wanda made me see it last week, all three movies.”

Sam grinned. “And?”

Bucky shrugged, smiling at Sam. “It was awesome!”

“Seen the new one yet?”

Bucky raised his eyebrows. “There’s a new one?”

Sam let out a laugh. “Yeah man. The Force Awakens.” He got his laptop out and put it on his bed, motioning for Bucky to sit next to him. “I’ve heard it’s really good but I missed it in theaters a while back.”

Bucky got into bed on the other side, sitting on top of the covers and leaning back on the pillows. “Steve never has any good movie recommendations.”

Sam let out a laugh. “Don’t worry, I got you covered.”

In the opening scene on Jakku, when Finn took off his helmet, Sam balled his hands into fists. “Yes! I love this guy! This guy’s gonna be one of the main characters. I bet you didn’t see anything like that in the 40s.”

Bucky smiled sadly. “Sure didn’t.”

Bucky grimaced as Kylo Ren tortured Poe and laughed as Poe and Finn escaped together. In the excitement of the moment and the exhilaration of the chase, Sam wasn’t prepared to see the plane get shot down.

Finn was wandering through the desert calling for Poe by the time Sam snapped out of it. Bucky moved closer, wrapping his arm around Sam’s and Sam relaxed into the touch.

They continued watching the movie without talking, laughing at Rey and Finn’s first scene together. Bucky got really excited about Han finding his old ship and about Leia becoming a general. _You looked at me like no one ever had_ , Finn told Rey, and Sam grinned.

“Look at that, the black guy finally gets to be a romantic lead. About fucking time.”

Bucky smiled and nestled closer to Sam.

\--

The rest of the movie was interrupted with screams of “NO!!!!” and “That’s one hell of a pilot!” and “Did you _see_ that?”

“Oh my god, I want to see the next one,” Bucky groaned, as Rey held out the lightsaber to Luke. “And it hasn’t even come out yet.”

“Aww man,” Sam sighed, slumping back in the pillows. Bucky’s arm was still linked with his. “Rey was so great.”

“She’s so cute. We need to make Wanda do her hair like that.”

Sam laughed. “I don’t think you’ll have to make her. Wanda’s an even bigger Star Wars nerd that I am.” Weirdly, he felt a twinge of jealousy. It was the first time he’d ever heard Bucky mention finding anyone attractive. Sam guessed he could’ve meant it in a platonic way, and found himself hoping that he had. He shook his head. Being jealous of Daisy Ridley was getting him nowhere, and she _was_ gorgeous, but Sam definitely didn’t want Bucky to think so.

“Thanks, Sam,” Bucky murmured, his head falling back on the pillows.

Sam smiled. “It’s no fun watching movies alone.”

Bucky closed his eyes, grumbling, turning over to rest his face on Sam’s shoulder. “Tired. Can’t move.”

“That’s fine. Just sleep here. Ugh, you’re so heavy,” Sam complained, pulling the covers out from under Bucky and then up over him. “You need to stop working out so much.”

Bucky laughed sleepily. “You’re one to talk.”

Sam laughed and got under the covers, suddenly feeling how late it was. Before he realized, he had drifted off to sleep, Bucky’s head resting against his shoulder again.

\--

At first he was Finn, escaping from the First Order with Poe, laughing and celebrating, but when they got shot down he was himself again, yelling for Riley in the desert. He found Riley’s suit, but no body. He searched for hours before he woke up, sweating and shaking.

He had one unsteady foot on the floor when Bucky reached out to take his hand.

“Sam?” he asked, his voice thick from sleeping.

Sam bit his lip, tears running down his face. Bucky sat up in bed and pulled Sam closer in the darkness.

“ _Sam_ ,” Bucky whispered, wrapping both arms around him. Sam couldn’t hold the tears any longer, and let himself cry against Bucky’s chest.

When Steve found out Bucky was alive, it hit Sam hard—what that would be like if it was him, if he found out Riley was okay. Even Finn got Poe back all in one piece. But Riley was never coming back. Sam cried until he couldn’t cry anymore, and Bucky held him tighter, squeezing his shoulders, and burying his face in Sam’s neck until Sam’s breathing evened out again.

“I won’t ever get him back,” Sam whispered.

Bucky swallowed. “I’m sorry Sam. I know.” Bucky squeezed Sam’s hand gently, sliding his other hand up the back of Sam’s shoulders. “I wish there was something I could do.”

Sam wrapped his arm around the back of Bucky’s waist. “This,” he whispered. He took a deep breath.

Bucky pressed his face close to Sam’s and squeezed his shoulders again. Sam figured it had been a while since Bucky lay next to someone like this. He wasn’t surprised Bucky could be this gentle—he knew he could be. But Bucky didn’t know. This was probably something new to him. It was new to Sam too.

\--

Sam really wasn’t looking forward to having the “I may be into dudes and specifically your ex-assassin best friend” conversation with Steve. Because waking up next to Bucky was just about the best god damn experience of his life. All things considered, Bucky shouldn’t have looked that good. He was rumpled, his hair sleep-mussed, and he was squinting up at Sam tiredly. But Sam still thought he looked cute.

“Morning, handsome,” Sam murmured, and Bucky actually blushed a bit, rubbing his face and smiling up at Sam.

“Morning.”

\--

“Okay so who do you think Rey’s parents are?” Wanda asked, grinning from ear to ear. “I have so many theories.”

Bucky smiled and shrugged. “I mean, I don’t know. Is everyone saying she’s Luke’s daughter? Because he always seemed like a loner to me.”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, plus I don’t think he would just ditch her on Jakku.”

“Buck, you could be a young Luke Skywalker,” Steve said, coming into the kitchen.

“Oh my god, he does look like Luke!” Wanda agreed.

Sam put his hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “Yeah, you got that whole sexy, long hair, brooding look, metal hand thing going on, you know.”

Bucky shook his head, smiling. “Sexy? Really?”

Sam raised his eyebrows. “Oh come on. You ever look in a mirror?”

Steve reached in between them to get his mug of coffee. “So you guys watched The Force Awakens last night? How was it?”

“It was amazing!” Bucky replied.

“Nerds,” Natasha muttered, opening the refrigerator.

“Nat, you’re literally wearing your Leia pajamas,” Steve pointed out. She glowered at him.

\--

Of course he had to bring it up again later.

“You really think I’m sexy?”

“Oh my god, Barnes,” Sam groaned. They had been lifting in the weight room in what Sam had thought was companionable silence until now.

“It’s just, you know, compared to any of the actors in Star Wars—”

Sam put down his weights. “There are a million girls who want to date you if they weren’t scared off by the arm first.”

“But instead I’m hanging out with your lame ass.”

Sam burst out laughing. “It’s not my fault you have bad taste.”

\--

After a long day of training, they were all collapsed on the couches together. Sam dragged himself to his feet reluctantly.

“Alright guys, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Steve mumbled a response from where he was buried under a pile of pillows, blankets, and Natasha. Wanda waved sleepily from her armchair. Bucky got up and walked after Sam.

“Hey, wait.”

“What’s up?”

“I just…wanted to make sure you were okay,” Bucky murmured, and looked down. “After last night. How are you feeling?”

Sam shrugged, and tried to laugh it off. “Oh, you know.”

They stopped in front of Sam’s door. Sam breathed out a sigh and motioned with his head for Bucky to follow him inside. He slumped down on the bed. “I haven’t a vivid nightmare like that in a while,” he admitted after a small silence.

Bucky sat cross-legged on the foot of Sam’s bed, running a hand through his hair. “Sorry I didn’t realize it would be in the movie.”

Sam shook his head. “No. No. I would’ve still watched it. Besides, I had fun watching it with you.”

Bucky nodded, smiling.

“Someone’s gotta catch you up on everything and Steve’s not qualified.”

“No, he certainly is not,” Bucky laughed. He sighed and they slipped back into silence.

“Your nightmares getting any better since cryo?” Sam asked. Bucky had never actually told him that he had nightmares, but Sam figured he did. There’s no way you could go through something like that and not have nightmares.

Bucky shrugged. “Better, yeah.” He smiled sadly and then looked up at Sam. “Hey, do you want to watch another movie?”

“Yeah, man.” Sam grabbed his laptop from the bedside table as Bucky came to sit next to him. “Any ideas?”

Bucky fell asleep next to him again that night.

\--

“I think it’s about time they had a gay character in Star Wars, and why not have it be Luke?” Wanda asked as Bucky and Sam came into the kitchen.

“How about Rey?” Natasha asked.

Sam poured himself some coffee, frowning. “But I want her to be with Finn. A black guy never gets to be the romantic lead.”

“That’s true,” Natasha admitted and smiled. “And they are really cute together.”

“They should give Luke a husband,” Wanda insisted. “He’d be lonely all by himself on that island.”

“It’s still can’t really believe gay marriage is legal,” Bucky murmured, sitting down at the counter with his breakfast. “It seems like yesterday that we were enlisting…” He glanced up at Steve shook his head. “God, people were homophobic back then.”

Sam sat down across from them. “Hey man, they still are, if you’re looking for some asses to kick. And there are plenty of racists left too.”

“Don’t forget the homophobic racists,” Nat added.

“Still,” Steve said, “even in the 40s there were people who weren’t like that. Sometimes I wonder if pretending that everyone was a bigot is some kind of excuse, you know? Like if everyone was a bigot, then no one could know any better. But there were a lot of people who knew better. There are always people who know better. There’s never an excuse.” He sighed. “Hey Buck, do you remember Nate and Matthew?”

“Yeah!” Bucky said, his eyes lighting up.

“I looked them up. They’re living up in Vermont together.”

“Really?” Bucky asked. “They’ve gotta be in their 90s by now.”

“Yup,” Steve said with a grin. “Guys we knew in Brooklyn,” he explained to the others. “Being an interracial gay couple wasn’t something you talked about back then, but there were places that didn’t care and would look the other way.”

“Damn, people love to leave that out of the history books,” Sam mused. “It’s sweet that they’re still together.”

Steve nodded. “I couldn’t imagine them splitting up.”

“Hey Steve, did you ever look up any of Bucky’s old girlfriends?” Nat asked.

“No.”

“Why not?

“Afraid one look at him would steal them away from their husbands,” Steve teased, and Bucky rolled his eyes. “He was quite the ladies’ man back in the day.”

“Why haven’t you mentioned this before?” Sam asked, grinning and raising his eyebrow at Bucky, who blushed. But he felt the second deadly pang of jealousy. Being jealous of 90-year-old married women or possibly widows was definitely even less productive than being jealous of movie stars. Bucky wasn’t dating anyone, anyway. Sam sighed.

“I was _not_ a ladies’ man. You would have been the ladies’ man if you’d had your way, except you could never get a date without my help,” Bucky said to Steve.

Steve smirked and raised his eyebrows. “Nice try.”

Natasha leaned forward on the table. “Since my matchmaking attempts with Steve have all failed—for now, you’re not completely off the hook—” Steve wilted, and Natasha turned back to Bucky. “Maybe I should switch to you.”

Bucky paled. Sam stood up and grabbed Bucky by the shoulder. “Great idea, except Bucky’s busy every night this whole week. We’re marathoning Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”

“We are?”

\--

“Hey,” Steve started, and Sam glanced up.  Steve’s hands were in his pockets, his shoulders slumped, as if he could disappear if he tried hard enough. “How has Bucky seemed recently?” he asked. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with him.”

Sam shrugged. “I think he’s settling into things. It’s good for him to be around friends. But you can ask him yourself, you know. Are you worried about him?”

Steve sighed. “Yeah, I’m always worried about him.”

Sam nodded. After a moment of silence he said quietly, “What’s stopping you from asking him how he is, man?”

Steve shook his head, breathing out a sigh. “It’s so hard to talk to him.”

“Hard for you, or for him?” Sam had his own opinion—he could tell Steve guessed it from his tone of voice.

Steve bit his lip, and nodded.

Sam sat there for a while after Steve left and cursed. It wasn’t his job to tell Steve how to help his best friend. And if it was him, if someone was that worried about him, he’d want them to tell him to his face.

But maybe Steve couldn’t see through the brave face he always put on.

He remembered Bucky putting a hand softly on his shoulder, asking him if he was okay.

\--

It wasn’t just trouble sleeping. Sam noticed that Bucky froze sometimes, or got a distant look in his eye like he was seeing something that wasn’t there. Steve always got nervous when he noticed Bucky’s mind was somewhere else, but Sam knew that didn’t help.

He’d just put a hand on Bucky’s shoulder or tell him a joke. Something to get his gorgeous eyes crinkling up at the corners and his mind off whatever memory was coming back to bother him. Sometimes all you could do was distraction.

The anniversary of Riley’s death came and went and Sam tossed and turned alone in his bed, in between sleeping and waking nightmares.

\--

He got up, paced, sat down on the side of the bed. It was dark, and he could only make out the shape of the room by the dim light filtering in the window. Sam finally cursed and opened the door, walked down the hall to Bucky’s room and knocked softly.

Bucky opened the door a moment later, wide awake, his eyes worried as he looked at Sam. “Hey, come in.” He closed the door and put a hand gently on Sam’s shoulder. “You okay?”

Sam shrugged, and Bucky pulled him into a hug.

“Yeah,” Sam breathed out, closing his eyes. “Just didn’t want to be alone.”

Bucky climbed into bed, moving over to make room for Sam next to him. He pulled Sam to his chest and Sam breathed out a sigh.

\--

“I’ve got you set up on a date with an old friend from Shield tonight,” Natasha told Bucky as he walked into the kitchen. “What do you think?”

Bucky slumped down into a chair. “It’s really nice of you, Nat, but…I don’t know.”

Natasha tilted her head to the side. “Hey, if you don’t want to go you don’t have to.”

“I know, but you went to all the trouble. I’m sure she’s great. I just don’t think it’s fair to her if I’m not really interested, you know?”

Natasha shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll make it a girl’s night out. Wanda, you want to come?”

“Sure!”

“That settles it. No problem.” Natasha squeezed Bucky’s shoulder and he gave her a grateful look.

“The ladies’ man,” Sam teased, “too shy for a date?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Sam. How come you don’t pick on him?” he asked Nat.

Natasha smiled slyly. “Yeah, Sam, you’re single, right?”

“And he’s handsome, funny, and _can_ be nice when he’s not making fun of you,” Bucky reasoned to Natasha, and then turned to Sam with a grin. “I think you have a lot of potential.”

Sam laughed out loud, feeling his cheeks warm under Bucky’s gaze. “I hate you. Don’t throw me under the bus like that.”

Natasha’s eyes twinkled, glancing between them. “To be discussed later, gentlemen.”

\--

Sam put his book down in frustration, the moment from earlier playing over in his head. He couldn’t help but smile thinking about how Bucky had said he was handsome, but there was probably no chance Bucky meant it the way he wanted him to mean it. He shook his head and sighed.

Listening to Al Green never got him down unless he had feelings like this for someone. It had been a long time since he felt this particular type of melancholy. Sam turned off the music and went to clear his head in the weight room.

Steve ended up going out with Nat, Wanda and Nat’s friend, but Sam wanted to call it an early night. He was just about to go to bed when Bucky opened his door and came in, wearing his usual loose pajama pants and baggy tank top, his hair falling to his shoulders.

“Hey, man.” Sam sat up, that familiar warm feeling filling in his chest.

“Hey.” Bucky smiled and got in bed next to him and Sam pulled him into his arms. They just lay in silence, Sam’s hand on Bucky’s back. Sam could feel the rise and fall of Bucky’s chest against him.

Bucky sat up and took off his prosthetic arm with a groan. “Scar tissue is bothering me again.” He turned over onto his right side and Sam wrapped his arm around Bucky’s waist, resting his head against the back of Bucky’s neck.

After a minute, Bucky murmured, “Hey, I just wanted to say thank you.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know. Everything.”

Sam let out a laugh. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

Bucky sighed. “When you met me, you never treated me like …When other people find out what Hydra did to me, there’s this disconnect, like they forget that I’m still trying to be a real person. It’s not that their scared _of_ me, but they’re scared of something.” He was silent for a minute. “Like maybe I can’t heal and they’ll have to do it all for me.”

Sam ran a hand absently through Bucky’s hair. He knew what Bucky meant. After Riley died, the other guys had acted like talking about it would make it worse, and had made Sam feel even lonelier than he did without his best friend. “What, and never give you a hard time?”

Bucky laughed quietly and rested his hand over Sam’s, where it lay over his stomach.

“You’re the one who’s been there for me, you know,” Sam murmured.

Bucky turned around and propped himself up on his elbow and looked down into Sam’s eyes. “Thanks for letting me do that for you.”

Sam looked down.

“Hey,” Bucky said suddenly. “You’ve seen all my scars.” He motioned to his shoulder. “I haven’t seen any of yours.”

Sam sat up. “Well I don’t have that many.” He smiled. “Okay, I got a few cool ones.” He pulled his shirt over his head, feeling his cheeks heat up under Bucky’s gaze. He pointed to a thin scar below his collarbone. “See that one? I got shot down and my parachute malfunctioned. That’s only ever happened once. Luckily I landed in a tree and not the ground.”

Bucky winced. “Ouch.”

Sam nodded, grinning. “Broken bones and only this little scar to show for it.”

“What about that one?” Bucky pointed to the side of Sam’s waist.

“Oh yeah. Shrapnel. I’m lucky I didn’t get killed but Riley got me out of the way in time. All things considered I could be scarred up pretty bad. I only have a few souvenirs.”

Bucky laughed. “Let’s keep it to just a few, yeah?” His face sobered as he looked at Sam and then he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to Sam’s cheek.

“What was that for?” Sam asked, letting out a little laugh and Bucky smiled, shrugging.

Sam put a hand on Bucky’s shoulder, squeezing it slightly, and Bucky covered the hand with his own. Sam couldn’t look away and he didn’t want to. He leaned closer to Bucky and broke into a smile and they both laughed. Bucky bit his lip and tilted his head to the side, looking down at Sam’s mouth and back up into his eyes.

The kiss was soft, Sam’s hands in Bucky’s hair, Bucky’s hand pressed to Sam’s chest.

Sam pulled Bucky’s shirt over his head and then they kissed again, Bucky’s hand cupping the back of Sam’s neck. Sam ran his hand slowly down Bucky’s chest, finally glancing back up into his eyes.

“So this is why you don’t have a girlfriend, huh?” he whispered.

Bucky lay back on the bed, looking up at Sam and smiling. “Is this why _you_ don’t have a girlfriend?”

Sam felt himself blush, grinning down at Bucky. “Yeah, man, I have a crush on you. Come on.”

The corners of Bucky’s eyes crinkled as he let out a laugh. “You have a crush on me?”

Sam rolled his eyes and pursed his lips, still smiling. “Yeah, I’ve liked you for a long time.”

Bucky reached up to put his hand on the side of Sam’s neck. “Me too.”

Sam grinned and Bucky started to smile. He studied Sam’s face, glancing down at his lips and brushing his thumb over Sam’s cheek.

“I’ve never met anyone else like you,” Bucky added.

Sam let out a laugh, not quite sure what to say. “I certainly hope you don’t. I have to keep you to myself.”

He kissed Bucky with determination.

\--

Sam tugged Bucky’s head back, his hand wrapped in Bucky’s hair. The other man moaned and clenched his hands on Sam’s shoulders as Sam kissed his neck. He’d put his prosthetic back on that morning after they woke up and exchanged sleepy kisses. But Sam was wide awake now, Bucky’s skin warm under his lips.

Bucky groaned, turning his head to the side, and gasped as Sam pulled back. He let out a contented laugh. “I could get used to waking up like this.”

“I don’t see why you can’t.”

Sam pulled Bucky by the hand after him into the kitchen and pulled him into another kiss before he started making coffee.

Bucky sat down at the counter and rested his chin on his palm. “You ever come out to Steve?”

Sam shook his head. “Nah. I never came out to anyone before. I’ve only figured this stuff out recently, you know?”

Bucky nodded. “Me too.” He paused. “Well, since I met you.”

Sam raised his eyebrows, grinning. “Oh I see how it is.” He sat down next to Bucky with his coffee, elbowing him in the ribs gently. He was about to lean in to kiss him when Steve walked into the kitchen, punching Bucky on the shoulder on his way to get coffee.

“You would’ve really liked Nat’s friend,” he said to Sam. “Should’ve gone on that date.” He opened the refrigerator.

Bucky slid his hand over and took Sam’s. “No!” He paused. “If you like her so much why don’t you date her? Sam’s…”

“Yours?” Natasha asked with a small smile, standing in the doorway.

Bucky shrugged, and Steve turned around and saw their hands interlaced on the table just as Wanda walked in, rubbing her eyes. “Mine,” Bucky finished softly. Sam grinned.

“Oh,” Steve said, glancing between them.

Bucky suddenly looked unsure of himself, glancing up at Sam. “I mean, we haven’t really talked about—”

“What we’re calling this? Do I want to be your boyfriend? That type of thing?”

Bucky smiled, squeezing Sam’s hand. “Yeah. I mean, I like the sound of boyfriend,” he said quietly, looking hopefully up at Sam.

Sam smirked. “His boyfriend,” he announced loudly, and sipped his coffee with satisfaction.

Steve wrapped an arm around each of their necks and pulled them into a hug. “You guys…” His grin matched both of theirs. He turned to Natasha. “I out matchmakered the matchmaker!”

“How are you taking credit for this, Rogers?” Natasha grumbled.

Steve pursed his lips as if it was obvious. “They’re my best friends. I introduced them to each other.”

“Bucky attacked us when we were in a car,” Sam pointed out. Bucky nodded ruefully.

“It was me the whole time,” Wanda insisted, deadpan, but her eyes crinkled at the corners. “They started spending a lot of time together after I made them watch Star Wars. I take full credit.”

“Oh come on guys,” Bucky laughed. “None of you knew this was going to happen. I mean, neither of us knew.” He looked at Sam and smiled.

Natasha shrugged, pursing her lips in a little smile. “You’re right, none of us _knew_.” She poured herself a glass of milk. “I just thought you’d make a good match.” She smiled over the edge of her glass.

\--

Sam placed the flowers in front of the headstone and stood up, breathing out a sigh. He glanced up as Bucky took his hand.

“I can do this with you anytime,” Bucky said quietly.

Sam nodded, lips trembling. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Yeah, it sucks to do this alone. Never felt like I could ask Steve. And then it’s this long drive out here to the countryside by myself.”

“You’d let me know if there was anything else I could do, right?” Bucky asked, wrapping an arm around Sam’s shoulders as they walked back to the car.

“Waking up next to you every morning is nice, I gotta say,” Sam said with a small laugh, letting a small weight fall off his shoulders. The sun had come out on their drive up and it was lighting up the wildflowers across the road.

“You’re not so bad yourself, handsome.”

Sam felt himself blushing and Bucky shoved him gently. “What.”

“Still not used to guys calling me handsome.” He leaned back against the car and Bucky slid his hands around his waist.

“Well you better get used to it,” Bucky said with raised eyebrows. “You’re the most handsome guy I’ve ever seen and I am _old_.” Sam let out a laugh. “Seriously. You’re so hot, you’re probably the number one cause of global warming.” Bucky could barely keep a straight face.

Sam burst out laughing. “Shut up. That was _terrible._ ”

Bucky shook his head. “The icebergs are melting, Sam.” Sam wiped tears from his eyes. “Stop smiling,” Bucky whispered, breaking into a smile. “You’re melting them.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Sam gasped. “You’re unbelievable.”

“You’re unbelievably handsome.” Bucky glanced down at Sam’s lips and then kissed him slowly. When he pulled away Sam burst out laughing again and Bucky covered his face with kisses. “And you have the best laugh,” Bucky murmured, resting his forehead against Sam’s.

“Mmm.” Sam stole another smooch from Bucky. He shook his head. “Global warming.” He snorted. “Laughing definitely feels way better than crying.”

Bucky took his hand. “Well, I’m here for both.” He swallowed, looking down. “I love you.”

Sam grinned. “I know.”

“Did you just quote Star Wars at me?” Bucky asked incredulously, swatting Sam’s arm.

Sam burst out laughing again, backing up as Bucky chased after him. “I don’t know! Maybe I didn’t do it on purpose--”

“You totally did it on purpose!”

Bucky caught up to him and tackled him down into the grass. Sam rolled over on top of him and leaned down into a kiss, hands in Bucky’s hair. He pulled away slowly. “Guess what.”

“What.”

“I love you too.”

“I hate you.” Bucky threw a handful of grass and wildflowers at him and then pulled him down to kiss him softly.


End file.
